


The Other Miss Sheffield

by xtenn



Series: The Viscount Who Sure As Hell Didn't Deserve Kate [9]
Category: Bridgerton (TV), Bridgerton Series - Julia Quinn
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Books, F/M, First Kiss, Libraries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 15:06:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29297865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtenn/pseuds/xtenn
Summary: Kate wasn't the only Sheffield enjoying her time at Aubrey Hall - it was also there that Edwina met Mr Bagwell, the archaeologist ...This is a canon rewrite that started as a one shot and is now a series but should probably be chapters in a single work (or maybe this story could stand alone?). All credit is due to Ms Quinn for her characters and stories.
Relationships: Edwina Sheffield and Mr Bagwell
Series: The Viscount Who Sure As Hell Didn't Deserve Kate [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2129715
Comments: 14
Kudos: 54





	The Other Miss Sheffield

"So remind me again - what exactly am I doing here?" Matthew cursed in frustration, as he struggled with his cravat. 

"God, Matthew, let me do it," George replied, batting his friend's hands away and taking over. "You are rubbish at this. What is your objection to proper dinner attire?"

"I hate dinner attire - it's pretentious," Matthew complained, but reluctantly let his friend manage the silk. "And I can't afford it anyway. So why ..."

Tongue out in concentration as he tried to fix the cravat, George interrupted: "Quit your whining. You're here at Aubrey Hall to have a good time. A few nights in the country with my rich second cousins. You needed to get out of the university library - they needed more men - so we got an invitation."

"I regularly get out of the library ..."

"Yes, to go dig up bones somewhere miserable. Honestly, would you hold still?"

"Not true, I also..."

"Yes, fine, you also row. We are all deeply envious of your broad shoulders. But you do not socialise. This is a house party. Good people. Good food. Maybe some music. Gentle walks in the garden." George grinned wickedly. "Women. Debutantes."

"Didn't you also say we are here to make up numbers and were chosen specifically as we were unremarkable?" Matthew laughed, with an edge of bitterness at the slight of being classed in such a manner. 

George grimaced, feeling similarly about the slight, and kept working on the cravat. Was it so impossible that he could meet and marry a gorgeous girl, who coincidentally also happened to have a fortune?

"Second sons with no money, who are barely out of Oxford - or in my case, never left," Matthew pressed, intent on tearing down his friend's happy daydream. "If our last names are not Bridgerton, we will not be worth a second glance."

"Just enjoy the free food and brandy, then," George huffed, examining the finished tie. "And at least now, Bagwell, you finally look the part."

\----

George punched him on the arm the moment the ladies left the dining room for the parlor.

"Jesus Matthew!" he hissed. "I thought I was the dreamer!"

"What?" Matthew responded, pretending innocence but unable to stop smiling.

"Stop drooling like a hungry dog over your dinner partner. That's Miss Edwina Sheffield. Diamond of the first water. This season's incomparable. Everyone expects Lord Bridgerton to marry her."

"She's engaged then, to be married?"

George shrugged. "Not yet, but ..."

"Then I'm going to continue to talk to her," Matthew smirked. "Weren't you the one telling me to enjoy myself? And so if the lady wants to know every detail about my recent excavations on Kos - and she certainly asked sufficient questions this evening to suggest she was - God, George, she is so intelligent..."

"And beautiful," George snapped back. "Don't pretend you didn't notice that!"

Matthew hit his friend back lightly. "I'm not blind."

"Not for lack of trying," George quipped. "But fine, enjoy yourself. Talk to the delightful girl. But they will most likely announce the engagement this week, and I won't be there for you when you invariably get your heart broken."

Matthew shook his head, still smiling. Not once tonight, he thought to himself - not once did Lord Bridgerton make any attempt to engage Miss Sheffield in conversation. Certainly he was a charming, if not overly friendly, host. But the Viscount had not sought her out - and neither did Miss Sheffield look for him in return. There's no love there, he decided - or even attraction. Indeed, she seemed vastly more interested in Matthew's work and studies. You're here now, he thought to himself - at this ridiculously extravagant house, in the company of these ludicrously wealthy people, wearing very uncomfortable clothes that you had to borrow - why shouldn't you at least enjoy Miss Sheffield's company?

\---

Edwina ran her fingers along the spines of the books in the library, humming a tune to herself and looking for inspiration. At dinner last night, she felt sorely lacking in education - sitting next to a young gentleman who could read Latin and Greek, who had travelled twice to the continent, while her French was barely passable! She liked to think that she had not asked ridiculous questions or too readily displayed her ignorance, but it was enough to motivate her to at least find something new and different to read. 

"What are you looking for, Miss Sheffield?"

Edwina almost jumped, dropping the book in surprise, at the sound of Mr Bagwell's voice.

"Apologies, I didn't mean to surprise you," Matthew continued, picking up the book for her. "It's Matthew - sorry, Mr Bagwell - from last night."

"Of course, the archaeologist," Edwina blushed with a nervous laugh. _Get it together_ , she admonished herself - _stop acting like a child_ \- but it was impossible for her to have forgotten who he was.

Mr Bagwell, who had held her attention for longer than any other gentleman she had met, with his detailed tales of the ancient world.

Mr Bagwell, with his boyish fop of blond hair that fell into startlingly pale blue eyes.

Mr Bagwell, standing a few feet away from her at over 6 feet tall, muscled arms casually folded, taking up too much space in the library to be anything other than her complete focus.

Edwina was suddenly uncomfortably flustered. "I am actually here because of you, Mr Bagwell."

It would be entirely incorrect to say that such a sentiment did not have a profound effect on Matthew. "... because of me?" he echoed, his lips quirking into a small smile.

Edwina's blush only deepened. Was it suddenly too warm in here? Why was she looking at his lips? "I need a book - I was hoping you could recommend one."

Matthew smiled broadly. Could she be any more perfect? "Yes, with pleasure ... tell me, what do you like to read?"

\---

They were seated next to each other at dinner that night, but to Matthew's great disappointment, Edwina barely talked. He asked after her sister, of course - there had been some kerfuffle during the day regarding a bee sting, and Lord Bridgerton had somehow been involved in assisting the poor girl - but his enquiries were brushed aside, abruptly, by Edwina. Matthew was not the most socially aware gentleman, but even he realised that whatever had happened was not an appropriate topic of conversation. Indeed, Edwina only really came alive when they discussed the book he had recommended - but even then, she was distracted, glancing regularly to her mother and various Bridgertons around the table.

Perhaps there was something to the engagement rumour, after all. 

Anthony Bridgerton doesn't deserve Miss Edwina Sheffield, he thought bitterly.

\---

"Back for another book?" 

"Matthew, you _are_ here! I mean, Mr Bagwell," Edwina exclaimed too quickly, her face relaxing into a smile and her eyes shining. Edwina wondered if she could say: _I didn't see you at breakfast so I came here as I was hoping to see you_ without seeming irrevocably wanton. "And yes, I am - another book. Could you recommend one?" 

"Of course," he smiled back, walking over to the young lady casually. Why am I excited by the prospect of being a glorified librarian to this woman? "Similar, or different - what do you want to read today?"

"Is there any ... umm ... any philosophy?" Edwina managed to say eventually, cursing herself for trying to appear intelligent and instead feeling increasingly dull. They had discussed the library's very small philosophy section at this exact same time yesterday, and Edwina knew from Matthew's confused expression that he remembered as well. _Why did I come here, what am I doing and how do I get out of this room without humiliating myself further?_ This is _awful_ \- I finally meet someone I want to impress and I act like an _idiot_. "Oh, sorry, I forgot - the library doesn't have much beyond the classics, does it." 

"No," Matthew continued wryly, "and you've read those - but no doubt you'll be soon in a position to add whatever tomes you like."

The allusion to her expected marriage to Lord Bridgerton did not escape Edwina, and it felt desperately uncomfortable - and not just because the viscount was clearly smitten with her sister, or because of the bee sting incident the day before. Edwina was suddenly desperate for Mr Bagwell to know that she would not be marrying anyone, and she couldn't for the life of her work out why it was so important. "I can safely promise you, Mr Bagwell, that I am highly unlikely to ever be in any such position."

"Is that so?" he replied, folding his arms and raising his eyebrows. "Certainly, that's not what ..."

"Rumours are regularly wrong," Edwina admonished, starting to laugh and hoping to change the topic before her face caught on fire with embarrassment. What was it about this man? "Now, are you going to recommend a book for me to read - or not?"

"I'm at your service, Miss Sheffield," he responded with a mocking bow. On a whim, he took her hand and bought it to his mouth, never letting his eyes leave her face and watching as her teeth gently nibbled at her bottom lip. He heard her breath catch. Good God she was beautiful, and Matthew had never wanted to merely discuss books less.

\---

Matthew saw her as he was walking back to the house later that day, after his swim in the lake. Edwina was pacing slowly, her book open in front of her in her left hand and a curl of hair between the fingers of her right. She would stop walking, untangle the hair, then turn the page - and once reading again, would start twisting that golden lock around and around. Her lips moved slightly, and as he approached he heard her repeat various words and sentences from the book - speaking them aloud to consider them in depth, turn them over in her mind. 

She looked up when he was a few feet away, and she smiled as she had in the library that morning - her entire face alight with seeing him.

So he kissed her, and for a brief delicious moment, she was in his arms, melting against him.

**Author's Note:**

> Anyone else remember A Room With a View?
> 
> And yes yes, more Kate and Anthony to come ...


End file.
